The Crown

The quote “well behaved women seldom make history” has become so omnipresent that its intent has been erased –a bon mot ascribed to nearly all of history’s most notorious women at some point, from Anne Boleyn to Marilyn Monroe, encouraging — when found on mugs, retro-themed greeting cards, t-shirts — women to stand out by misbehaving, as perhaps the only way to achieve something monumental. In context, however, this was a single sentence in a piece by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich which lamented the scarcity of historical documents outlining the actions of women. Not that their actions weren’t notable, but that they — like Eliza Schuyler in “Hamilton” — tend to be erased from the narrative. Such is the novelty and delight of a series like “The Crown,” centering the experiences of the young Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy), a woman whose long reign has had the side effect of making us forget she was ever not old.